Open letter to W3C CSS Working Group re CSS Grids.

Since I'm knee-deep in grids at the moment – both the book and Gridset – the theory, and thoughts on how it could and should apply on the web, is very much at the front of my mind. Last night I had a reminder on Twitter of the upcoming CSS3 Grid Layout draft. I recalled I wrote about it last year proposing some slight amendments regarding the addition of the module attribute. This would be a big change. It'd be great if it were considered, but I'm not hopeful.

However, that change not withstanding, one thing that really needs to change in this draft is the terminology used. Terminology (with some slight interchangeable differences) that has not really changed for many years in grid and layout design. Why reinvent it? Why define existing terminology to that more suited to spreadsheets and tables?

So, this morning, I emailed the working group to consider these changes. I'm posting this here for those who are not on the working group who may have opinions on this who can get in touch with me. I'd love to hear your thoughts, concerns and questions regarding this draft and how it fits with the established graphic design theory. I am of course on Twitter, or you can email me on this site.

I'm confused as to the need to invent new terminology with regards to grids that have existed for centuries. I'm also a little concerned that the mental model this terminology builds is one more similar to tables and spreadsheets (where these terms could be interchangeable) than to grids and layout.

Specifically on the terminology:

Grid Lines are known as Gutters.

Grid Cells are known as Modules (or Units – the term is interchangeable). They represent the smallest building block of the grid.

Combinations of modules vertically are Columns *if* they run the full height of the grid.

Combinations of modules horizontally are Rows *if* they run the full width of the grid

Combinations of modules both vertically and horizontally are Fields.

There's a lot of great stuff in this draft, but some of the theory of designing grids has been around for centuries. If we could start to align CSS with existing terminology, and existing mental models of how layout is designed, then all the better.